Uttarakhand floods: Hooda launches veiled attack on Narendra Modi

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday launched a veiled attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi following reports of the BJP leader evacuating 15,000 people from flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, dismissing that such a thing was impossible.

"I don`t think it is possible," Hooda said when asked to comment on reports that Modi had with the help of his team of officials managed to evacuate such a large number of people from the deluge-affected hill state.

Hooda, who had met his Uttarakhand counterpart Vijay Bahuguna and offered all help, had also visited Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar yesterday to meet people from Haryana who had been rescued from various parts of Uttarakhand.

"I was there (in Uttarakhand). I don`t think such a thing is possible. I don`t know how he (Modi) did it (rescuing 15,000 people)," Hooda said addressing a news conference here this evening.

To a question, Hooda said Uttarakhand floods, which had claimed a large number of lives, was a national calamity of unprecedented magnitude and lashed out at those who are trying to politicise the issue.

"It is indeed unfortunate that when a state is trying to come to terms with a natural disaster, there are some people who are trying to politicise the issue.

"This is time to stand behind those who have been affected by the calamity and not the time to play politics (over floods). Priority should be to safely evacuate those who are still trapped and later, on rebuilding the ravaged state," Hooda said.

The Haryana Chief Minister said his government has offered to adopt and rebuild 25 villages in Uttarakhand.

"I have left it to Bahuguna to decide which villages they want us to re-build and rehabilitate," he said.